One important purpose of communities of practice is to share information, create a common understanding of the world, and share knowledge. Lesser and Prusak (2000, p. 124) argue that communities of practice are ‘‘the major building blocks in creating, sharing, and applying organizational knowledge’’ because communities of practice facilitate the development of social capital which is ‘‘a necessary condition for knowledge creation, sharing, and use.’’ McDermott (2000) asserts that ‘‘Knowledge belongs to communities. . . We learn by participating in these communities. . . Knowledge flows through professional communities, from one generation to the next.’’ (p. 26) ‘‘We acquire knowledge by participating in a community.’’ (p. 28) ‘‘Increasing an organization’s ability to leverage knowledge typically involves finding, nurturing, and supporting the communities that already share knowledge about key topics. . . The key to nurturing communities is to tap into their natural energy
to share knowledge. . . People naturally seek help, share insights, and build knowledge in areas they care about.’’ (p. 29) In all of these quotes, the italics are in the original. The flip side of this is that members of the same community of practice can more easily share knowledge than can persons operating in different communities of practice, or not part of a community of practice (Hakanson, 2004). Thus, there exists a close and tight relationship between communities of practice and knowledge sharing, such that knowledge sharing indicates and evidences the presence of a community of practice, and knowledge
sharing will occur within a community of practice.
1. International business employees often compare foreign markets information obtained from different channels
2. International business employees often study foreign markets information in order to find the basis for decision making
3. International business employees often discuss and share foreign markets information
4. International business employees often discuss and study foreign markets information with the employees from other departments.